My friend is 77 years old, worked in a Hotel in Los Angeles, CA, for 17 years full time as a Manager, and received a room, but no board as part of his compensation. In 1993, his first year of employment, he received $5/week, plus room. In August of 2010, he became ill, and had to stop working. He was receiving $55/week, plus room. He is now attempting to collect Social Security retirement benefits, and his employer has paid him in cash during the length of employment. In addition to being paid dramatically low wages, he was denied 17 years of payments into the social security system, which has dramatically reduced his benefit amount.

Because he was paid below the California minimum wage, is he entitled to sue the employer for back wages? I have contacted the Wages and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, and they are assisting him to an extent. They advised me to retain an attorney. He will also cooperate in any investigation by the Department of Labor for labor law violations, and both the state of California and the IRS for any investigation involving defrauding both California and the IRS of payroll tax revenue.

i am a truck driver for a USPS Contract Mail Hauler which transports mail from coast to coast, i am paid prevailing wages for the area i work in but the wage rate has gone up on 2/22/2010 i ask my employer and am told that this dosent afect me. also no overtime after 40 hours, also no pay for waiting while on duty. im sure when they bid the contract they put all these items in the bid but dont pass them on to increase their profit. with 400 drivers there talking a lot that they should be paying us. i believe we are regulated by the McNamera- O'hare contract service act

i went to the dol web site but it was confusing so i came here any help you give will be appriciated. hopefuly i get some positive answers so i can convince my fellow drivers to take legal action

The Management Co. which runs our mobile home park was cited for dumping a 20ft dumpster filled with asbestos directly in front of our homes. It was entirely uncovered, the surrounding neighbors were not notified, and a fine dust gathered on our homes, vehicles and windows in the immediate area. The EPA was involved, and the defendants were fined $27,000. There were over a hundred witnesses which dispute the Management Co's claims that the dumpster in question was in front of our homes for "one day". This is absolutely untrue, it was there at least two weeks. The EPA report stated the amount of asbestos in the air and soil was many times the acceptable level, making it unlikely it was there for "one day" as the defendants claim (and the collection of dust gathered on nearby objects also suggests this). Unfortunately, were were not notified about any of this until AFTER this dumpster was removed, meaning we had no ability to gather photographic or video evidence of the fact, and were left with our word against that of the defendants. Further, our attorney, with over a hundred eyewitnesses, an EPA report, and the noted subsequent fines failed to win our case, and as a caveat was then disbarred. The defendants now request massive legal fees from the victims in this case, most of which are elderly. We believe our lawyer mishandled our case, and that this is a travesty that the victims must pay the defendants for their actions. Can we fight the legal fees, and or find our attorney liable for the fees? Collectively we feel victimized by the justice system, and now must pay for being essentially poisoned. There was a youtube video of one of the news reports covering this story, as well as various websites such as this one: http://www.weitzlux.com/asbestos-greenfield-mobile-home-estates_1650375.html

What can the residents do in this case? We were underrepresented, our lawyer subsequently disbarred, and we are left holding the bill. HELP!